Shivers
by Vilinye
Summary: "'cause between you and me, if that day ever comes... I think the whole universe might just shiver." Eleventh Doctor in 'Death of the Doctor  Short scenes set in the 'Turn Left' AU universe. T for death and the darkness of the episode.
1. Missing

Missing

The Racnoss Empress's screams echo above the roar of the draining Thames. Her scarlet face contorts in rage as she waves her front legs towards the Doctor. "You will die, doctor man. My children will be avenged!"

He stares past her, ignoring the river pouring over his face. His chest aches as if one of his hearts was trapped with Rose in that parallel world. For a moment, a voice echoes in his mind: _Doctor, you can stop now._ Ginger hair and a wedding gown…

He shakes his head. What was he seeing? Nothing.

One of the Empress's claws squeezed the Doctor's chest. He wiggled one arm out of her grasp and pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. But his fingers move too slowly. Her limbs begin to glow with teleportation. He slips from her glowing claw and lands heavily halfway up the first flight of stars. "Dead, doctor man…" The Empress hisses as she disappears.

The Doctor's vision wavers. Poison. Not strong enough to kill a Time Lord; not immediately fatal to humans. Under other circumstances, he would have returned to the TARDIS and waited it out. But his hearts are so weary, and the waters roar closer.

The waves pull him from the stairs, sweeping him towards the pit. Even his respiratory bypass system can't keep air in his lungs long enough. Darkness fills his vision as the edges tinge with gold.

**No. ** Why should he let it happen again? Death has toyed with him enough. **No more. ** The gold mist pauses. Last time, it had taken all his strength to will the regeneration. Now, he will use the same strength to deny it. ** It ends now. **

Darkness fills his mind; he barely notices when his body is slammed against a row of pipes. _The world can take care of itself now. _


	2. Late

Late

_It worked. _That is Rose's first thought as she stood on the corner. _It actually worked._ For a moment, the sleepless nights, panic fits, and painful failures are forgotten.

Then she sees the ambulance. _No. _Ignoring the ache left from the dimensional jump, she runs toward it. The back doors close behind the cloth-covered form.

"What happened?" she asks a nearby woman. "What did they find? Sorry, did they find someone?"

"I dunno. A bloke called the Doctor or something."  
"Where is he?" If they took him to a hospital, the cure could be worse than the disease. Two hearts—they might dissect him, imprison him…  
"They took him away. He's dead. I'm sorry, did you know him?" The woman tries to encourage Rose. "I mean, they didn't say his name. Could be any doctor. "  
"I came so far. " After falling into the alternate universe, she swore she'd come back. But not like this.  
"It could be anyone."  
Rose looks her in the face. "What's your name?"  
"Donna. And you?"  
She can't answer. "Oh, I was just… passing by. I shouldn't even be here. This is wrong." The words roll out like an echoing chime. "This is wrong. This is so wrong." Rose turned away. _I can't believe it. He would have regenerated…_

Then she remembers his face as the transmission cut out at Bad Wolf Bay.


	3. Notification part a

Announcement(A)

"Brigadier, what a surprise!" Sarah Jane Smith exclaimed. "Come in. My son and his friends are upstairs—"

"I can't stay long. Is there somewhere we can speak privately, Sarah?"

Sarah gestured toward the parlor. "Have a seat."

The Brig strode around the world. "They were going to call you, but when I heard the news, I insisted on returning from Peru so I could tell you in person."

Sarah shut the blinds. "Does this have to do with the Racnoss vessel on Christmas Day?"

He stopped pacing. "How did you know?"

"I have sources."

"Yes…well," The Brig coughed. "UNIT was called in to investigate, and we found a body."

Sarah stiffened, bracing herself for the words her heart already heard.

"It was the Doctor. I didn't recognize him at first—he looked so young. A trench coat and Converse—like a boy playing superhero. But it was definitely him."

"Ac-oo!"

"I thought I told you lot to stay upstairs." Sarah called.

The three teens ambled into the room. "It was Clyde's idea," Luke offered.

"I don't remember you trying to stop me," Clyde retorted.

"Sarah, like you really expected us to stay upstairs after last time-"Maria met Sarah Jane's eyes and stopped talking.

Sarah cleared her throat. "Brigadier, I'd like to introduce you to Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer, and my son Luke. This is the Brigadier, whom I met at UNIT when I was traveling with the Doctor."

"A pleasure to meet you. I only wish it could be under better circumstances."


	4. Funeral part b

Funeral(b)

The universe should have been in mourning. Instead, fewer than a dozen mourners sat on the hard benches deep in the heart of Mount Snowdon. "At least last time, he said goodbye." Sarah Jane whispered to Luke. "But I thought—somehow, I thought we'd meet again."

On the other side of the room, Maria and Clyde were talking. "We're the youngest ones here." Maria pointed out.

"Just as well. I don't think anyone else could handle this."

"Just imagine all the stories these people have to tell." Maria noticed one woman in the corner of the room wearing a blazer and skirt. "She doesn't look military. Maybe she was a companion of the Doctor's."

"Leave it to me," Clyde walked up to her. "Hello, I'm Clyde Langer and this is Maria Jackson; we're both friends of Sarah Jane Smith. Who are you?"

The woman whipped out a photo id. "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."

"I don't pay much attention to politics." Clyde shrugged. "How did you know the Doctor?"

"Slitheen on Downing Street…and the Sycorax on Christmas…" Harriet laughed. "It's a long story."

"I never got to meet him." Maria sighed.

"He would have liked you," Sarah Jane walked up behind them. "Harriet Jones, it's a surprise to see you mixed up in all of this."

"I think we're all involved now." Luke commented.


	5. Earthlight

Earthlight

Sarah Jane slumped to the floor by the MRI machine. "It's safe. The sonic…disabled it."

"Mum," Luke tried to stand, but collapsed.

"The air is so thin," Maria gasped.

"The Judoon broke the air shell." Sarah reached out for Luke's hand. "If they don't send us back,"

"Hospitals have oxygen," Clyde pressed himself against the wall. "If we could find some,"

"Not…enough." Luke's head lolled to one side.

"Clyde, Maria, I'm sorry…sorry I got you into this. Oh, Maria, your mother's," Sarah gulped for air. "going to kill me."

Maria glanced out the window. The Earth hung halfway up the horizon, casting a faint glow on the powdered dust. "It's so beautiful, though…"

"It is, after all." Too weak to sit, Sarah rolled over. "Never thought I'd see it again."

"Where's Oliver?" Luke asked. "He was going to…get help."

"What help?" Clyde shrugged, but the motion upset his balance, and he slid to the floor. "Nobody's coming."

_If only the Doctor hadn't…_Sarah closed her eyes.


	6. Oxygen

Take Your Side

He was on the moon.

"I am on the moon." Oliver repeated the words aloud, as if their plausibility would increase with morality. All that morning's lectures slipped out of his mind as he stared out the window at Earth. Maybe there was something to be said for that space race by the Soviets and the Americans after all.

Then came the Rhino-heads. Mumbling like some heavy metal band, one shone a light onto his eyes with some metal device, stuck the metal thing into a vent on his armor, and began speaking. "Language assimilated. Earth human, English." It turned to him. "This hospital is harboring a fugitive from justice. Inhabitants will be catalogued."

"What…what are you talking about?"

One of the visitors lining the halls, a young girl, spoke up. "I think—"

"No interfering with procedures." The beast shone the light on her. "Earth human."

It turned and walked down the hall. The girl turned to him. "I'm Maria Jackson, and I have a friend who can help." She pulled out her cell phone and texted a number. _Sarah Jane, it's space rhinos._

"Miss Smith?" Oliver called, voice limp as old celery. "Clyde? Maria? Luke?" He stared down at the floor. Four bodies. He bent over to check for a pulse, but his fingers were too numb to detect a pulse.

His heart pounded like a lead drum. _Signs of oxygen deprivation: can you tell me some, Mr. Morgenston? _His instructor's smug voice echoed in his head. "I…I think."

"Take this," someone pressed an oxygen mask over his face. Oliver's vision cleared. "Martha?"

"I'll get another one," Martha Jones turned her head away. "Don't move—it'll last longer."

"I know," he mumbled.

Martha shuffled down the hall, pressing against the wall.

Even with the oxygen, he knew time was short. There wouldn't be enough for all the patients. Unless they could get back somehow, they were all doomed. The thin arrow crept towards the red side of the gage.

Just as his head began to swim, the windows crawled with rising rain.


	7. Metal Sky

Metal Sky

"Once, on a day when the sun was shining brightly…"

"What's the sun, Daddy?" Fiona asked.

Brannigan's tail twitched. "Why, it's the sun. It's huge and yellow and it gives off light."

"Like a taillight?"

"No, much brighter and bigger."

"Like another car?"

"No," Val spoke up. "Oh, after twenty years on the Motorway, I still haven't forgotten. Brilliant blue stretching as far as one could see—farther. The sun cast faint shadows, but even the cloudiest days were brighter than this smog. You could stand outside without masks and breathe the air…" Her words trailed off.

The children's faces crinkled as they tried to imagine it.

"Someday, we'll see it again. Someday."


	8. Screaming 42

The sun is screaming. You know because it's inside your head. You are no longer aware of your human body, arms, legs, skin. You are burning, burning with agony. They took your energy, took it and used it for fuel, as if you were just another lump of space rock.

_Korwin?_

**Burn with me,** you command. The only way to end this agony is to make them stop. They will stop.

**Burn with me.**

The ship finally crashes, but it burns up long before reaching your surface. At that moment, you let him go.

_Wh—what's happening? Everyone, what's happening?_

**Burn with me.**


	9. Sigh

"Generation 101010, ready for duty."

"Machines powering down for the night watch, captain."

Messaline's war between Human and Hath had been continuing for generations. Stories were sometimes told of the Source, the sigh of the Great One who had created the universe, but the details had been lost over the centuries. There was no time to tell stories, anyway.

It was all about the war. The war that would never end until one side was wiped out. Sometimes the Hath seemed invulnerable. Sometimes Human victory seemed inevitable. But then the balance would shift again. The war would never end. Never.


	10. Labor Lost

"No one understands what happened at the first and only performance of _Love's Labor Won,_ but somehow the entire Globe Theatre burned to the ground. The ensuing confusion resulted in a yearlong production break as the company attempted to recover. " The professor droned on. "One can only imagine what Shakespeare might have written otherwise, but the incident seems to have damaged his mind. In his latter plays, one can see the signs of increasing mental delusions before his death in Bedlam in 1599."


	11. Occupational Hazard

He can't believe what he's seeing, but it's his duty to report the news, even when it means skipping his family's Christmas celebration. "There is a giant replica of the Titanic over London. We're not sure if it's a hoax, but there have been multiple reports from across London. We urge the public to stay indoors until more information comes to light. From what I can see, it appears to be heading towards Buckingham Palace. But the ship is getting lower and-"

Nothing remains of his office.


	12. Skies Made of Diamonds

The Futurekind stormed the door, again and again like ceaseless thunder. Yana was still working on his rocket, but he had only seconds left before the doors fell. Young Tommy huddled in the corner, hands twisting his ragged shirt and trying to remember the stories his mum told about Utopia. "The skies are made of diamonds," he whispered to himself. "A sky of diamond."

"The barrier has been breached," someone screamed, but his words were drowned under the roar of the starving Futurekind.


	13. With Silence We Shout

_With silence, we shout.  
With silence, we shout._  
Ryder's attempt to free the Ood by tearing down the barrier around the brain failed. The owners of Ood Operations found a new manager after Halpen's freak disappearance and continued their procedures. At least Ryder, alone in his jail cell, had the small satisfaction of knowing Halpen suffered the same pain he had inflected on millions of Ood.

_With silence, we shout.  
With silence, we shout._


	14. A Music Teacher

In the sleepy village of Leadsworth, Amelia Pond and Rory Williams are slowly falling in love. They discuss baby names—Julia, Eugene. Rory suggests "Melody," but Amy thinks it sounds too much like a music teacher. They don't know about the planet of books light-years away, where a little girl is slowly going insane from having four thousand minds chattering away inside her head. Nor do they picture the curly-haired archeologist who always meets her mother's imaginary friend in the wrong order.


	15. Bored Now

Jack couldn't die—he envied Gwen and Ianto that privilege. Now he was trapped on the Sontaran home world, which might not have been so bad if the Sontarans weren't a clone race with no interest whatsoever in ….well, anything nonmilitary.

* * *

Yeah, this one's short but I wasn't interested. And Jack stuck on a planet of clones just demanded black humor.


	16. Ginger Doe

A policeman knelt by the body. "No ID. We'll have to take her in for DNA testing. Put her down as a Jane Doe. I'll take care of the papers. What's today, June 28th?"

"Right. Don't you mean Ginger Doe? I haven't seen hair like this since—"

"Show a little respect!"

The driver of the truck stood of to the side, hands shaking as he gave his report. "She just ran out in front of me. I couldn't stop. It was like she wanted me to hit her. And then there was this blond woman. From nowhere, really…"

"What do you mean, I'm dead?" Donna bellowed at the bank manager. "Do I look dead to you?"

"It must be a glitch in the system."

"I'll show you a glitch!"

"According to the system, you died June 28th."

"Well, then, I'm awfully fresh for dead, aren't I?"


End file.
